She stood up. Stag might not have the greatest personality but she could get over that if he planned to touch her. It had been a really long time since anyone had. He claimed to be sentient. It implied he might have all the right body parts. He motioned his head toward the bed.
“You get the inside.”
“We’re sharing?”
“Yes. I won’t let you sleep on the floor. It’s too hard and cold. That would be cruel.”
She climbed up on the bed and lay down. He didn’t follow but instead walked over to the wall of storage and opened a high panel she couldn’t reach. He jerked something down that she didn’t catch sight of.
“Computer, dim lights to three percent.”
The room became so dark she couldn’t see anything. Disappointment hit. He meant to just sleep. She closed her eyes and scooted closer to the wall. He really was a machine. Only one of those wouldn’t try to seduce a woman in his bed.
The mattress dipped and the covers she lay on pulled a bit from his weight. She turned onto her side, giving him her back. He probably didn’t want any part of them to touch and that meant pressing tight against the wall. It wasn’t a large bed but it was wider than a single bunk.
“Give me your wrist. Raise it.”
Her eyes snapped open. “Why?”
“I’m restraining you. I don’t trust you not to attack me in my sleep.”
“Give me a break!” She was really getting fed up with his accusations. “You’re a cyborg. I’m not. How much stronger are you than a typical human? I’m guessing what? Five times?”
“Give me your wrist or I’ll force it. I don’t want to bruise you more.”
She flung her arm up and over her head. “Paranoid bastard. There. You just want the one or both?”
“Both.”
“Great. That’s going to be comfy for sleeping.”
“I’m more concerned with my comfort.”
“Of course you are. Dick.” She lifted the other one.
He was tender when he touched her, wrapping some soft material around each wrist. It felt a little elastic but thick. She was at least grateful he didn’t use cuffs. It would have hurt to rest her wrists on metal bands as she slept. He released her and she tested the give in them. They weren’t so tight she couldn’t move around a bit. He’d tethered her somehow to the frame above her head, but he’d given her enough length to move her arms about a foot.
“Computer, lights at ten percent.”
She twisted her head, staring at her wrists now that she could see them. “Belts?”
“Yes. From my workout gear. Don’t tug hard and they won’t abuse your skin.”
“Do you feel safer now?” She stared at him under her upraised arm. He lay on his side, facing her.
“I do.”
“Fantastic.”
He reached over her waist, upward, and tapped a finger on the wall. A hidden compartment sprang open. He withdrew a folded cloth and a small black bottle.
Fear hit. “Don’t you dare drug me.”
He made a sound like a snort and closed the panel. “Go to sleep. This isn’t for you.”
He rolled onto his back and she laid her head down, wondering if he drugged himself to sleep. Barney, one of her crew, used that method, pouring his sleep medicine into a rag and breathing it in when insomnia bothered him.
The bed shifted a bit and she heard the distinctive sound of something hitting the floor. It sounded suspiciously like his towel.
Did the cyborg sleep totally naked on top of the covers? She was right next to him. Maybe he hadn’t been taught how rude and inappropriate that was. Cyborgs might not regard nudity the same way people did.
The next noise was the cap of the bottle being popped open. Curiosity pricked at her over what he was doing but she refused to give in to the need to peek. She wasn’t going to ask why he used drugs. It wasn’t any of her business.
Nala tried to relax, hoping to sleep since it wasn’t as if she had been given a choice. She adjusted her cheek, resting it on the inside of her arm for a pillow.
The mattress moved, and she frowned, wondering what Stag was doing now.
Then the bed rocked a little bit. A new sound came with the motion, a slightly wet one. What the hell?
She couldn’t take it anymore and opened her eyes, turned her head, and lifted up a bit to get a look at him.
Stag lay flat on his back less than a foot from her. The cloth was spread out on his lower stomach and upward, almost to his rib cage. One of his hands was firmly wrapped around his very stiff cock.
Her eyes widened, watching his hand move up and down his sex as he arched his hips. He had been created with all the appropriate anatomy of a man. The shaft was thick and long, the head fuller, and it glistened in the light. That was the source of the sound. It wasn’t a drug in the bottle, but some kind of lotion or lube.
“What are you doing?” The words burst out of her before she could stop them.
He didn’t stop or even slow down manipulating his dick with his hand. “Quiet. I’m almost ready to come. Don’t ruin the moment for me.”
She twisted her head away, squeezed her eyes closed, and her heart pounded. Stag was jacking off right next to her.
Her entire body turned rigid. She’d never seen anyone do that before, but the seconds she’d witnessed his fist pumping his cock were burned into her memory. His skin was a light gray but it was darker on his sex. His breathing increased in pace, becoming choppier, and then he groaned. The bed jerked when his body did. The motion stopped for long seconds.
“Now I can sleep.”
She startled when he pressed up against her back, and she opened her eyes, watching him reach up to drop the cloth and bottle back into the hidden drawer, then push it closed. He rolled away, no longer touching her.
Time passed and she started to relax again. She had almost drifted to sleep when Stag rolled into her, curling his big body against hers. Her eyes popped open, staring at the wall, wondering what he’d do to her.
“I’m not a machine,” he rasped, close to her ear. One of his hands wrapped around her waist, then slid upward. She sucked in a sharp breath when his fingers pressed over her breast. He just rested them there. “I’m also not a sex bot, or I’d have gotten you off, instead of myself.”
She swallowed and didn’t say a word. He had to know she was wide awake now. He moved his hand, slid it down her stomach slowly, and paused over her belly button.
“I’d have either used my fingers or mouth to make you come, then I’d have fucked you.” He slid his hand upward again, and that time, firmly cupped her breast, massaging it through the thin material.
She gasped. It didn’t hurt. She wished it did but her body responded to his husky voice, the things he said, and the way he closed two of his fingers, lightly pinching her nipple between them. It had been far too long since she’d been touched to be immune. The fact that he was so attractive didn’t help.
“You have a beautiful body. I wanted you the first moment I saw you.” He jerked her against his firm, long length, spooning to her back tightly. He was warm and had her trapped between his arm and chest. “We could have shared a lot of pleasure…except you’re an Earther.” He released her and rolled away. “Go to sleep.”
Nala closed her eyes and forced her breathing to slow. “You really are a bastard.”
“You’re learning,” he agreed. “Androids don’t hold grudges—but I do.”
Chapter Four
Stag couldn’t get his mind off Nala. He’d managed to get some sleep but not much. It was the first time he’d shared a bed with someone else, and the circumstances hadn’t been ideal. Regret kept washing through him. It was possible he’d gone too far to teach the Earther a lesson, and get a little payback at the same time.
Hellion cleared his throat, drawing his attention.
“What is it?”
The cyborg had turned in his seat in Control. “You haven’t said one word in the hour since you began y
our shift. It’s just us. How is it going with Nala?”
“I’m not discussing her.”
“I’d have done my best to seduce her.”
“I’m not you. Watch your screen and I’ll watch mine.”
“It’s boring looking for any lights in all this darkness. I’ve felt nervous since we entered this dead zone.”
Irritation rose. “Turn off your feelings.”
“You always suggest that. Why?”
“Because I’m not allowed to directly order you to shut them off unless you’ve become a danger to yourself or others. It’s annoying when you question my orders. You wouldn’t do that if you weren’t feeling nervous.”
“Doesn’t this bother you at all?”
“Hiding from the enemy? Yes. Being in a dead zone? No.”
“We have no sensor readings since there’s nothing for them to bounce off of. There’s absolutely nothing here.”
Stag stood, stretching his legs. “Watch the screen, Hellion. We hope there’s nothing out there. The Markus Models might have followed us inside. Don’t let your guard down or I’ll put you on another duty.”
Hellion lowered his head, his lips clamped together. Stag hated to scold his crew, but some cyborgs had become a little lax in their compliance. It was his job as commander of the Varnish to keep them in line.
Stag took a seat again, monitoring his own screen.
A glint flashed.
Stag reached out, zooming in on it. It was a quick ray of moving light but then it faded. He slapped his other hand down on his console.
“Everyone to Control. Now!”
Hellion twisted. “What is it?”
“Section three-six-four.”
“I see nothing.”
“I did, and we need to be prepared. There’s something in the dead zone with us.”
“Maybe it was a glitch on the screen.”
The doors opened sooner than expected and Kelis rushed inside. Stag didn’t reprimand him for his lack of uniform or shoes. The male wore sleeping shorts and his hair was mussed from leaving his bed. He slid into his seat at weapons.
“What’s going on?”
“Uncertain. I saw a flash of light.” Then Stag spotted another and enlarged it on the main screen so they could all see it.
“What is that?” Kelis tried to read their sensors but nothing showed on them.
Parqel and Veller entered. They wore sparring outfits. Both of them paused, staring at the flare of light crossing the front display.
Stag amplified the camera to the max and cursed. “Maze and Yammer, report now. What are your locations?”
Neither answered. He scanned life signs, finding both of them inside their quarters. Both males had to be sleeping not to answer his hail. They’d had the last shift.
He locked their doors, his mind working fast to take over functions on his ship.
“Belt in,” he ordered his men. “They are blindly firing, hoping to hit us.”
He overrode the computer in his quarters, turning on the coms. “Nala? Brace for possible impact. Do you hear me?”
He heard her gasp. “What’s happening?”
“The lowest wall panel under the bunk is where the survival equipment is kept. Prepare for hull breaches.”
“What’s going on?”
He cut her off, focusing on removing the oxygen from all nonessential areas near the exterior of the shuttle. The damage would be lessened if they sustained a hit. He used thrusters, turning the ship to make them a smaller target.
Another flare of light showed on the screen, closer to them.
“Can we move to where we’ve already seen lights?” Veller’s low voice revealed his tension.
“There is no pattern. I’m watching for one,” Stag admitted. “They could broadside us if we attempt to move where they’ve already fired.”
“I can’t believe they’ve waited out there all this time.” Hellion shot nervous looks to the others. “What if they’re still waiting when we hit our exit time?”
“Let’s worry about the here and now.” Stag overrode the coms in Maze’s and Yammer’s quarters, informing them what was going on. Both men responded, now awake. He ordered them to stay where they were and released the locks on their rooms so they could get out if severe damage happened in their area.
“Incoming,” Veller warned.
Stag adjusted thrusters, avoiding the flare of light. It missed but they got a better look at what the Markus Models were firing at them. “Smart bastards.”
Hellion had a wordier reaction. “Son of a bitch. Those are rigged to come apart on impact and the mini bombs inside are attracted to metals. They might have reprogrammed them to just open and deploy at certain distances.”
“We can hope there’s nothing near us to hit.” Kelis kept calm. “The range on them is about forty meters once the load is dispersed. That one passed us and is out of range.”
“They’ve effectively mined the area with bombs that will be attracted to the Varnish if we pass any deployed ones.” Stag watched for more of the weapons. “All the ones I’ve seen have flown beyond range. That’s good.”
“What if they opened some of them ahead of us?” Veller sent the visuals from his personal pad to the main screen to show them where the Varnish was, and where he estimated they had come from when they’d entered the dead zone. “We have to pass through this path to reverse our course.”
Stag agreed it wasn’t the best news. But it could have been worse. They didn’t spot any more flares, but that only meant the thrusters on the missiles weren’t active. Stag forced his body to relax.
“We’ll wait, watch, and prepare for our exit.”
“What do you have in mind?” Kelis turned his chair, staring at Stag.
“Decoys. We’ll move slow and shoot metal objects ahead of us. The bombs will be drawn to them and attach.”
“The Varnish is a much larger mass than and small objects we can fire ahead of us.”
Stag was aware of that. “The only other option is to blast out of here at full burn and hope we don’t fly directly into one. We’d pass them at too high a rate of speed for them to be able to attach to our hull.”
“They’d turn when they sensed us, but we’d be out of range before they could lock on.” Hellion nodded. “Even direct impacts might not make them detonate. There is a two-second delay. We could be past them with enough speed.” He smiled. “I like that plan better.”
Stag wasn’t fond of either option. Both had problems. The slow way might mean suffering massive damage to the ship, but the fast way could make leaving the dead zone more difficult. At full burn, they might make miscalculations on their exit. “Watch your screens.”
He relayed the options to the two crew in their quarters, ordering them to try to return to sleep. He didn’t notify Nala. He wanted her on alert in case something went wrong. Cyborgs could react faster. Her reflexes would be slower and she wasn’t as tough to kill.
It bothered him, thinking of something happening to her.
He shoved his thoughts away, focusing on his task. They watched for more flaring but no lights showed in the vast darkness around them.
* * * * *
Nala sat on the bed with an oxygen canister and mask within reach. Time had dragged by since Stag’s voice had cut into her sleep. His warning had woken her and she’d discovered he’d left to go on shift, and that he’d freed her wrists. The drawer he’d told her about did hold emergency equipment in case of a ship failure. She wouldn’t suffocate, and she now had a med kit, as well as a temperature suit to keep her from freezing if life support went down.
So far nothing bad had happened. No explosions had been heard or felt.
Hours passed.
She had used the cleansing unit, taking her portable oxygen with her, and then explored Stag’s storage drawers. Some refused to open at her touch, unauthorized to her, but she’d found more of her clothes. She’d chosen a tunic and casual pants. She even put on a pair of his
socks to protect her feet in case of catastrophe.
She got up and paced. It was her job to be in charge. After six years, she was the one used to giving orders. “This sucks! I hate feeling helpless.”
The door opened and she was actually glad to see the grim but handsome cyborg as he returned to his quarters.
“Situation?”
He let the door close behind him and bent, tearing off his boots. “Don’t you have a bed to make?” He glanced at it. “I’m in need of a nap.”
“Bullshit. What happened? What’s going on?” A suspicion crossed her mind. “Did you lie just to freak me out? That would be all kinds of messed up, Stag. Cruel even. I’ve been worried sick and just waiting for shit to hit the fan.”
“You can call me master. It has a nice ring to it, from an android.”
“You bastard. Stop with that crap!” Her temper blew. “I’m right, aren’t I? You wanted me afraid and thinking we were in some dire situation just to get even because you’re still mad at me for some stupid reason!” She wanted to beat on him, even it would be a wasted effort. She stormed to the bed, and gripped the small tank. She threw it at his chest.
He caught it with ease, showing off his reflexes. “No, I didn’t lie to you. We’re in a ‘situation’, as you called it. The alert is ongoing.” He walked over to her and offered the tank. “Keep that close. You might still need it.”
She tried to calm herself but it was hard. It was like he was trying to make her furious. She glanced down at the tank, then back up at him. “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s not a requirement. I don’t want you to die, so take this. I can hold my breath for over two minutes to reach another canister. You can’t, nor are you able to reach where another one is located.” He offered it again by pushing it against her chest.
She took the tank and tossed it on the mattress, not taking her gaze off him. He seemed actually concerned for her ability to survive. That was something. “What do you want me to say? Sorry I compared you to a sex bot? You’re a cyborg. Excuse me if the information I heard isn’t right. Couldn’t you take it as a compliment that I thought you were sexy and said I wanted to buy you?”